...leading with the left

Dan 2010-2011

2012-01-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

I will write this soon.

Drunk Wasp

2011-11-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

Friends, let me tell you what it is to be a man with demons

Sixteen years sucking the same cold can

Take another pull, get a lift

Feel so sick when I use my gift

Green canopy is a raging sea

Leaves and birds' nests flying at me

Sixteen years sucking the same cold can

Take to the skies, I can take to the skies

For a minute or two, to the tops of the trees

I won't touch anything

Seems the older you get, the smaller the things you hold on to.

Behaviour

2009-06-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

At the street party when your father-in-law ruffled your hair you knew you would always be a child. Cooked meat sweating with middle-aged men sweating out in the afternoon sun, bunting from windows like June 1977. And there was blue blood at the table. Blue blood, and you knew that you had to be on your best behaviour. Blue blood, this cul-de-sac court welcomes Madrileñas and other exotic princes from foreign lands.

Uncle Trev breaks out the brandy.

"I'm getting match fit.
Your tanned friend, how do you say his name again?
This is how we do it...
'Round here we say...
Hey, uh, Jesus? You'd better take this wine, wave your hands and make it water, ha!"

When he said 'true blood' you felt sick to your stomach and your hair stood on end. Your blood singing red white & blue at your friends. At your new friends.

My brothers, my international brothers help me.
Help me escape the island, brothers, and this near history.
My brothers, carry me to your golden cities.

Westway (draft)

2008-12-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Good morning London - this is one of many peoples' favourite stations
Good morning London

Indicate - left lane getting off
Monday
Coffee shop - latté latté
Security @ front gate

Bumper to bumper
Nose to tail

Out on the Westway I see the skeletons of 1960s Britain
I see right through the 14th floor, plaster peeling from the walls
Yours to keep at cheap rates starting from just 120 square feet

The Intrepid (draft)

2007-03-14T05:30:00.001-07:00

The intrepid walks in the room. He gives a low bow and makes his petition. He sailed across the western sea for the Virgin Queen, bringing back victory. The Spanish say he's a bloodthirsty dragon. "Your Majesty, don't leave me to the court lions - they are old & cruel. I am the flashing blade of the Empire. Your Majesty, don't leave me to the court lions - they want to tie me down. I am the crashing wave of the Empire. Let me back on the high waters - I have no time for these perfumed assassins."

Votives (draft)

2007-03-14T05:29:00.001-07:00

Desert sun rising over the camp. Foreman says "good morning! A fine day for digging the land with cheap labour. Not slave labour, though I'd like to whip those bastards anyway." That fool wouldn't know a find if it found him. This dry heat is enough to drive a man away from science. I expected thirst, parched earth & empty promises under the dirt, but they found some remains - a musicians' grave. This is our offering, baked in clay & buried away. Crack it open.

bullsuit / bearsuit

2007-02-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

Bullsuit - tailor let it out. Bearsuit - tailor take it in. I had it cut to hide my gut. I am a professional - I shovel the numbers around. Yesterday I made a killing with another man's trust fund. Bullsuit - tailor let it out. Follow the trend - this business is big business. Bearsuit - tailor take it in. Follow the trend - don't sell the bearskin before you've killed the bear. Tip your waiter, tip your barber. People don't need to see that you're haemorraghing money. I am a professional - I shovel the numbers around. Yesterday I made a killing with another man's bloody capital.

shutting down for the night

2006-12-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

His first book was the best - too much self-absorbed shit in the rest. Still you let him take you out to dinner, maybe dancing or some standards at the jazz club.

So the evening wears on and he's had enough to get him talking freely and he's throwing his fists around. All he ever wanted was to catch lightning in a bottle, but all that's shining through that glass is reflected off another man and he's confused whisky & faint praise with electricity.

They're shutting down for the night. Let him get on-stage and stand under the spotlight, too flat-out drunk to make the sentiment sound right. How can this be happening? Run and tell his family that his blood is worthless after all, and he stole all his best ideas from a toilet wall.

lost cartographer

2006-12-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

I drew the lines, I made the maps. I travelled through 360 painful degrees - I'm on my knees, this sort of thing doesn't happen to me. This was the chart, this was the chart that would set me apart from the others. There's traffic in my veins. There are monuments in my brain. It takes a legend to read me. Have you never been lost before? Give me your reference. Take the railway. It's a thin black line. On the train I see England's greys fade into greens. I see the red admiral following me towards the sea.

the original

2006-11-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

We went out to get steaming.
You? You left me cold but you drive the old men wild.
Now I know I'm not getting on.
And you are a shining example to the youth of today - to the new girls.
Long before the cocaine shame, before the Colombians had cause to complain.
You were never less than feminine.
"The Original brings the house down".
You were the Italian's muse,
Parisian Vogue couldn't get enough of you.
You were the brightest light on the runway -
All the papers were screaming your name the next day.
You ruled the black & white age - your face and their couture owning the front page.
Put on the red dress and destroy them.
"The Original brings the house down."

nothing to write home about

2006-10-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've read all the greats: all work and no play made you a bad novelist. Getting older - the older soldier with nothing to write home about. Just the same old hack job, the same old easy lay.

You were out of ideas, so you went over and she wouldn't take no for an answer. Did she howl like a wild animal when you showed her the new material? They're not exactly rolling in the aisles, sir.

You've been working on a new formula. Just the same old sword-play, the same old next line - you were out of ideas. She was a masterpiece and you are the worst kind of bitter critic.

soul / math

2006-10-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a black day. I'm in a black mood for doing black things. It started with the wake, when I had the man killed in the first place. Upstairs in my grand house the men do business in the smoking room, sharing cigars and trading battle-scars.

My life is a game of shaved dice - I run this town & I'm bringing in new muscle. Evil is a strong term, but I know you're right - I'm no good.

Get your coat on. This isn't four kids talking about bullets - we're shooting at dawn, & if you can hold your breakfast down you can hold down this job.

Take it? I'll take it. The racket? I run the racket.

seconds out (again)

2005-07-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've gone 'blog' crazy today. Here's some re-worked lyrics while they're fresh in my mind.

Hey, everybody can work for their airplay
Have you heard the band swing?
Bruiser takes a dive
'Though he promised his wife he wouldn't
You've really let yourself go
It's not your mirror - you're getting thicker 'round the middle
Break those fists in again
Get those lead feet moving
Feign left, right hook
You know you can't learn this from a young man
[on?] Bent knee, head down, fresh meat
Get out of your corner and dance with me
Show me your strong hands, your instruments
Are we agreed? No win, no fee?
Loser takes the prize, scratches 'x' on a dotted line
Feign left, right hook
You know you can't learn this from a young man

"seconds out"

2005-05-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

The newest song (that I sing) that the band are working on goes something like this - I'm unhappy with the last few lines:

hey -
everybody can work for their airplay
have you heard the band swing?
bruiser takes a dive
though he promised his wife he wouldn't
you've really let yourself go
it's not your mirror -
you're getting thicker 'round the middle
break those fists in again
get those lead feet moving
feign left, right hook
you know you can't learn this from a young man
head down, bent knees
fresh meat
get out of your corner and dance with me
give him some water
stitch the mess together & get it out there
loser takes the prize
scratches 'X' on the dotted line

Woohoo! This is fun!

those tentative first steps

2005-05-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

James has encouraged me to do this on a couple of occasions, and the other day Sam did the same. I have no idea how much of my nonsense is going to appear here or where it's all going to go. Right now I'm not even interested - it's Friday, 1830 and my lady done gone left me for Minorca so I'm sat at work making use of the internet, postponing the inevitable.

I think there might be some working on lyrics going on. I've got 6 new songs to work on with Dom & Sam and 5 of them need lyrics. There's something floating around in my mind about a man, his stripper girlfriend and his mysoginist father - sort of a rumination on beauty as a commodity.

My ability to touch-type should lend itself to a load of steam-of-consciousness cobblers in the very least.